I am buying a pretty big forum soon & merging it with my XF, help?

Well-known member

Hey guys, I would love some help from the XF community on this one. I own a forum right now that only has around 11k posts (thevirtuallygifted.com) and is run off of XF. I am actually about to buy a forum from someone to merge with my forum (eve-films.com). I am pretty much a noob forum owner so I don't know too much about this and was hoping someone could help me.

Right now, I run off of Hostgator. Will I need to buy a bigger server for the amount of posts/members/etc that I am merging over? (check the website I'm buying in the first paragraph for the numbers)

If so, do you guys have a suggested server that I run off of?

Next, how does the buying process work usually when you buy forums? I am paying a pretty good amount of money over Paypal, but how does he give the site to me? Does he just send me the passwords to his accounts and stuff? I really want to know how this will go down so I don't get scammed.

Well-known member

1) Ask for admincp rights so you can view his forum (make sure he doesn't have the modification called "fake users" or fake members (don't recall name)) 300 guest, but 3 members, and the last post was only 1 week ago.... Verify the details you're getting are correct.

2) Ask him to share with you (don't just accept a screen shot) Google Analytics report... Again, verify those users

3) While as Admin .... Check to see how active the forum really is (how many return members log-in)

4) He should give you not only super admin, but full account access (ftp, root, ect...) upon your purchase

If you are moving from 11k posts to just shy of a million you will need a better lot of hosting than you have at the moment most likely, either a semi-decent VPS or a small dedi. I would suggest you go for one with at least 2gb of ram, this would allow you to comfortably use the enhanced search solution for XenForo.

It has been done to death on other posts as to peoples prefered hosts, but for now I would say as you apear to be new to this, either go with

These servers come with a management panel called Plesk, which will help you perform basic tasks on your server. Also, as a decade long customer of 1+1 I would be happy to assist you in setting up your server as I know how they configure them pretty well Whilst the 4gb versions of the above packages may be a little overkill for just one forum, it will give you room to add other domains, or expand the site in the future without worry.

Looking at hostgators server and VPS packages, they seem rediculously expensive for what they are in comparison.

VPS or Dedi, well upto your preference and budget. I prefer a dedicated environment but likewise, VPS solutions can be equally as good.

As The Visitors said above, make sure everything in the deal is legit. Check and double check it. Once your happy, either pay through paypal for the seller protection, or do half before half after.

Once you have the root details and domain tags, transfer it into your name immediately and make sure you have a full copy of the database and files.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask or if you would like some assistance with the transfer drop me a PM